Monday, September 26, 2005

WELL THAT ABOUT WRAPS IT UP FOR GOD

It occurred to me today, that if we all go utterly insane for a moment and accept the existence of God (work with me here), then we must also accept the existence of Heaven. Which means that from 1978 or so he's been having the shit bugged out of him by wave upon wave of nerdy fanboys shouting "Well the babelfish is a dead giveaway, isn't it?" every time they see him.

Well it put a smile on my face.

SORRY, WAS THERE SOME SORT OF PRETEND FOOTBALL GAME ON?

Dunno what you all did on Saturday afternoon, but while the toothless were weeping or wondering, depending on whether their favourite thugs wore blue & yellow or red & white, Luscious and I were having a laughter-filled picnic with Cheshire, Callisto, and Vincent.

The complete absence of a public was wonderful.

FINGERS CROSSED, EYES CROSSED, KNEES CROSSED.....

Sent the 3 chapter package and the synopsis of the novel (Called Napoleone's Land now) to the first agent this afternoon.

Gulp.

There's still the rest of the editing to do, and 4 more agents to send various packages to (typical of me to get ones that all want different things...), but the hard work is done, I hope.

And then, of course, I'll start work on the next novel.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

NIGHTSHADE

Thanks to the kindness of Geoffrey Maloney and Jeff Vandermeer, I now have a discussion board over at Nightshade Books. I'll be using it to announce story sales, talk about upcoming projects & appearances, discuss my work, point bones, torture kittens... y'know, the usual.

Come on down. Have your say. Pontificate at will.

OPEN WIDE AND SAY AHWA

Placed an article with the Australian Horror Writer's Association on the subject of professionalism and how to crack your first sale. It's not up at their website yet, but I'll let you know when it arrives.

LUSCIOUS, FULL OF BLOGGING

Woah. Twice in a week!

PAINT ME A FACE

As my days have become increasingly filled with dayjob mundanity, I have grown to treasure more and more the time spent with my family, and the childlike joy we find in each other's presence. To whit: how many 36 year old women would line up with their daughters for face painting, and then get themselves done into the bargain?



I'm a dragon! I'm a butterfly!

How can I not be in utter love?

DEM'S GOOD EATING

Connor had his first roast tonight. An indulgent Dad moment:

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmpumpkinnnnnn........

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

BLUE MOON

Goodness me. Luscious has blogged.

BIG-ASS WRITER GUY STUFF

Remember last night when I talked about respect for my writing achievements?

Got an email about ten minutes after I posted.

Boy, will I have an announcement to make in a short while :)

Song of the moment: Magneto & Titanium Man Wings

Monday, September 12, 2005

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE B-BOY!

11 years old on Wednesday, and his Mum still can't believe her baby is growing up!

We had a great time on the weekend, treating the B-boy to some birthday goodness. Lunch at the restaurant of his choice, a trip to the movies, prezzies (but of course...), cheesecake, and all sorts of hanging out and doing cool stuff. Birthdays at the Batthouse tend to last all weekend, and it's a great excuse to indulge ourselves in the name of family togetherness. And the kids are so worth treating.

Blaaaaakkkkkeeeee, can I play your Baldur's Gate game nowwwwwww? :)

IT MAY NOT BE GOOD TASTE, BUT AT LEAST IT'S CONSISTENT...

A couple of years ago, Father Muerte & the Theft was mentioned in the Recommended Reading List at the back of Datlow & Windling Best Fantasy & Horror 16. Then I sold the reprint rights, and it appeared in last year's issue of Tales of The Unanticipated.

In which capacity it was mentioned in the recently released Best Fantasy & Horror 18.

They may not have good taste...

And to continue my habit of bridesmaidship, I managed to escape being picked up for The Best Australian SF & Fantasy anthology released by Mirrordanse Books recently, but both Vortle and Tales of Nireym made their RR list.

LAUNCHED!

The launch of Stephen Dedman's book Never Seen By Waking Eyes went very well, thank you, at least from the viewpoint of this unexpectedly nervous public speaker.

Many books seemed to change hands, much wine (and in my case, orange juice) was sipped, the conversation was refreshingly adult, and I was a very proud Battman as I watched Luscious, Aiden, Blake and Connor move amongst the assemblage. A combination of shyness and claustrophobia makes Luscious nervous amongst crowds, but she handled the scene with aplomb, and the older boys acted with a maturity and grace which belied their years. And everyone loves the C-train :)

It was also enjoyable, from a personal point of view, to attend an SF event in a purely adult, writer, role. As much as I love turning on the dancing monkey boy persona for Cons, it's also nice to be accorded some respect for my professional achievements. I felt like a serious writer on Friday night, and what's more, those who attended the launch treated me with some sort of professional respect. Hard to define, but there was a subtle, serious intent to the proceedings, and I liked it.

And I was glad for Stephen, who is both a friend and a writer I very much admire, to see a crowd of people rendering unto him the respect to which he is due.

The book is available now. Go to Fantastic Planet and buy it. Consider it my personal recommendation for the week. Tell them I sent you.

It won't get you a discount, but they will laugh and tell you to stop reading my blog and get a life :)


EVEN I'M EATABLE, BUT THAT'S CALLED CANNIBALISM

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory was a hoot, and I loved it.

That's all. I'm not going to get into the comparisons with the first movie that litter everyone else's comments. I'm not going to mention the raft of faults that can be picked (and there are a lot, to be sure). Gene Wilder was brilliant. So is Johnny Depp. Why pick who's better, when you can enjoy them both?

I loved the first movie. It was a piece of dark magic that we don't see often enough in cinema. I loved this one. Soon enough I'll own them both.

Love it, hate it, I don't really care. I turned off my critical faculties about 5 minutes into the movies, got in touch with my inner child, and grooved my ass off.

And whoever thought to reinterpret the Oompah Loompahs as insane little members of Devo: you're a bloody genius!

CHUCK

So I'm reading Chuck Palahniuk's Invisible Monsters today, after picking it up at Fantastic Planet during the week. And I've read over 200 pages today.

And I'm asking myself: what the fuck am i doing with my writing career?

Voice? I thought I had one....

Song of the moment: Father & Son Cat Stevens

Friday, September 09, 2005

TONIGHT TONIGHT

Fantastic Planet Bookstore
8 Shafto Lane
6.30pm

The launch of Stephen Dedman's new collection

Never Seen By Waking Eyes

I'll be speaking, but don't let that put you off....

Sunday, September 04, 2005

COOKING WITH NERDS

Overheard this morning, as Luscious and Erin cooked tonight's dinner.

LUSCIOUS: I know what this needs. More garlic.
ERIN: Noooooo! Not Daleks!

Email me for the recipe......

Song of the moment: Vincent Don McLean

Saturday, September 03, 2005

WHO'S YER DADDY?

Who made out like a bandit on Father's Day?

The 8-disc Hornlower Box set, the personalised momento Aiden hand-made for me at his after-school care (and which has been added to the cool-prezzie parade on top of my computer desk), the hardback Philip K. Dick biography, the bar of Toblerone so big I could use it to club kittens to death (not that I would, mind, but a man can dream....), and a bunch of flowers from the littlies.

I did all right :)

Spent the afternoon today at a family picnic in my brother's backyard, laughing and playing with my Dad & Stepmum, my brother's family, and our brood. For some bizarre reason, Luscious decided I should be waited on hand and foot. I, being of noble bearing and committed to the realisation of Luscious' hopes and dreams, acquiesced :)

The kids were brilliant: funny, well-behaved, engaging, and just so much fun to be with. Cassie's breakdancing demonstration will be the source of giggles for a long time, as will the sight of my brother dribbling a soccer ball with Aiden & Blake literally hanging from his back: someone must have told them the game was played above the shoulders, otherwise the headlocks will need to be explained...

Now we've dropped the Triffkids back at their Dad's house, the Battbabies are in bed, the house is quiet and the world has been safely locked outside. Time for a video, a cuddle, some time spent quietly reading with my beautiful wife beside me, and I can call this day perfect and complete.

Sometimes this whole blended family thang works to perfection.

Song of the moment: Infected The The